Regulations for designating Building Safety Authorities

This consultation document invites views on the Welsh Government’s proposals for regulations designating the local authorities that will be building safety authorities for the purposes of the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026. The consultation also asks whether any further provision should be included in the regulations about the exercise of functions by a building safety authority.

1. Once implemented, the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 (‘the Act’) will establish a new regime in Wales for regulating the assessment and management of building safety risk in multi-occupied buildings. The Act confers a set of functions in relation that new regime on entities referred to as ‘building safety authorities’.
    
2. Section 122(1) of the Act says that a ‘building safety authority’ means a county council or county borough council (i.e. a local authority) designated as such in regulations made by the Welsh Ministers. Section 122(2) requires the Welsh Ministers to designate, in regulations, one local authority in the area of each fire and rescue authority area as the building safety authority for that area.
    
3. Section 122(4) of the Act provides for the regulations designating the building safety authorities to ‘make further provision in connection with the exercise of functions by a building safety authority (including provision requiring another county council or county borough council to make payments, or provide services or facilities, to the authority)’.
    
4. We are now consulting on our proposals under section 122 of the Act.
    
5. This consultation is shorter than the standard 12-week period. This compressed timeline reflects the narrow scope of the consultation, the limited number of affected stakeholders and the limited audience it impacts.

6. In accordance with their duty set out in section 122(2) of the Act, we are proposing that the Welsh Ministers make regulations designating as building safety authorities the following local authorities located in two of the three fire and rescue authority areas in Wales:
    
   • Flintshire County Council – North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority Area
      
   • Vale of Glamorgan County Borough Council – South Wales Fire and Rescue Authority area
      
7. The local authorities currently proposed for designation as building safety authorities have been identified on the basis of their current level of expertise in matters relating to building safety, their capacity to deliver effectively the functions that would be conferred on them by the Act, and the extent to which they have indicated a readiness to take on the role. We welcome views on which council or county borough council in those fire and rescue authority areas should be designated, including other councils or county borough councils to those listed above.
    
8. However, we are not currently proposing which local authority in the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority area should be designated as the building safety authority for that area. This consultation seeks the views of consultees on which authority in that area should be designated.
    
9. The consultation will also provide those local authorities currently proposed for designation with an opportunity to further consider and comment on their capacity to deliver the functions of a building safety authority, but also an opportunity for other local authorities to contribute fully to that conversation.
    
10. We do not currently propose that the Welsh Ministers make any further provision using their power under section 122(4) about the exercise of functions by a building safety authority. However, we would be interested to hear from consultees about any further provision that would assist designated local authorities in fulfilling their roles as building safety authorities. 

Submit your comments by 16 October 2026, in any of the following ways:

• complete our online form
• download, complete our response form and email: buildingsafety@gov.wales

(please include the reference WG54868 in the subject of your email)

• download, complete our response form and post to:

Consultation: WG54868

Building Safety Reform Team
Housing and Regeneration Directorate
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Further information and related documents

Large print, Braille and alternative language versions of this document are available on request.

Contact details

For further information:

Division
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Email: buildingsafety@gov.wales

This document is also available in Welsh:

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Welsh Ministers have statutory powers they will rely on to process this personal data which will enable them to make informed decisions about how they exercise their public functions. The lawful basis for processing information in this data collection exercise is our public task; that is, exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government. (Art 6(1)(e)) 

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In order to show that the consultation was carried out properly, the Welsh Government intends to publish a summary of the responses to this document. We may also publish responses in full. We publish responses anonymously and your name and contact details will not be included. If you would like your name or other details published alongside your response, please let us know when you submit your response, and we will include them.

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For further details about the information the Welsh Government holds and its use, or if you want to exercise your rights under the UK GDPR, please see contact details below:

Data Protection Officer:
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
CARDIFF
CF10 3NQ

e-mail: dataprotectionofficer@gov.wales

The contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office are: 

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://ico.org.uk/